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Enlightening Mirror
Enlightening Mirror 1/20/17 Core Attributes: Defensive Information: Languages Spoken: Tibetan, Chinese. Languages Read: Tibetan, Chinese, Sanskrit. Notable Equopment and Resources: Iron Prayer Beads: This long chain of prayer beads look innocent enough, but are actually made of iron and quite heavy. In combat, they can be used as a chain whip to disarm, entangle, strangle, and strike foes. Horse: This horse has followed Tenzek in his journey across the continent, sometimes finding him hundreds of miles away from where they last met. His name is Yulong, after the horse that bore the monk Sanzang in Journey to the West. Money: Tenzek gave all his money to a homeless beggar. Needless to say, the beggar's fortune reversed, and he is now a powerful official who remembers Tenzek fondly. Talents: Explore the Inner Depths! You can dig into the mind of another, searching for information they would not reveal. Spend a point of Breath, select a target you can see, and make a Mentalism check opposed by your target's Insight; if you are successful, you can pull one piece of information out of the target. For example, you might learn where a corrupt governor is imprisoning your ally, or the true identity of a mysterious agent, or simply what your target is thinking about in that moment. Counter: ''A cunning foe who suspects their mind is being read may make a Deception check opposed by the reader's Mentalism to deliberately think falsehoods, feeding the reader false information. | '''Open the Third Eye!' Through focused meditation, you can see the unseen. Spend a point of point of Breath; while meditating, you can remotely view a person or place known to you, seeing their actions through your mind's eye. This may be as nearby as the other side of a closed door, as or as far off as a distant country. Counter: If the target is also trained in Mentalism, they may make an opposed Mentalism check to observe you, discerning your location. Break the Barriers! You can break down the barriers that separate one consciousness from another, allowing you to link your mind to that of another person's. Spend a point of Breath and select a willing target; for the duration of the scene, the two of you are mentally linked, able to hear one another's thoughts and see through one another's eyes. You cannot share skills, but you can trade knowledge and information. To extend the link into another scene, either of you may spend an additional point of breath. You also establish this link forcibly, by rolling Mentalism against your target's insight. Once such a mental link is established, other Mentalism abilities no longer require verbal and eye contact to work. Drug the Mind! Through hypnosis, you are able to induce various mental poison effects on your target. To use this ability, you must have verbal and eye contact, and must spend a point of Breath. Roll a Mentalism check opposed by your opponent's Insight; if you are successful, they succumb the effect of a mental poison (emotion, sedation, hallucination, or hypnosis). For the full details of these, see Drugs and Poisons under equipment. Counter: If the target is also trained in Mentalism, they make make a Mentalism check of their own in lieu of an Insight check to reverse the hypnosis. Shackle the Heart! You can forcibly take control of the mind of another, forging a mental link that strips away the target's control of their body. Spend a point of Breath, and make a Mentalism check opposed by your target's Insight; if you succeed, you gain total control of that target for one round. The mental link is difficult to maintain; for every extra round you continue to control your target, you must spend another point of Breath, and the target may make another Insight check to break free of your control. Counter: A target who also possesses this talent may roll a Mentalism in lieu of Insight to reverse the mind control. Reshape the Past! By reaching into the mind of another, one can alter thoughts and memories, ranging from short-term memory erasure to complete mental reprogramming. Using this talent requires verbal communication and eye contact. To activate it, spend a point of Breath and make a Mentalism check against your target's Insight; if successful, you change, erase, or implant a memory. The extent of the reprogramming depends on how much time the Mentalist is able to spend with their target; telling someone “you never saw me” after a failed stealth check is a free action; convincing someone that they're an entirely different person requires hours or days or enhanced interrogation, and repeated uses of the ability. Thus, this ability can be used for anything from quick “mind tricks” to deep brainwashing. When altered memories are dissonant with reality, the target may make a second Insight check to undo the programming. Thus, if the Mentalist says “you never saw me” to a guard then fails to disappear from view, they will still be remembered; likewise, if the details of a brainwashing victim's new life don't add up properly, they may come to remember their original self. Counter: ''If this ability is used on another Mentalist, the target may roll Mentalism instead of Insight to defend. If successful, the target becomes the programmer and the attacker becomes the victim. This can lead to deeply twisted storylines, where the attacker thinks he has reprogrammed his victim, when the opposite is in fact true. '''Pacifying the Demon!' You can convince foes to stay their hand, even in the midst of combat. In lieu of an attack action during combat, you can make a Persuasion check opposed by your target's Bravado to convince them not to attack you. Duelist's Insight! You can learn their strengths and weaknesses of another at a glance. When examining a person, you can spend a point of Breath to learn which skills they are trained in, and to what degree, along with any special talents they possess. Biography: When Tenzek was 13 years old, he sent to Lhasa to pursue ecclesiastic training as a Buddhist monk. With his keen senses and knack for subtlety, he soon found himself rising through the ranks, and was eventually brought into the Gra So Pa, ''the Dalai Lama's personal spy network of monks. As a ''Gra So Pa, ''Tenzek was highly trained in secret meditation practices to expand his mind, reaching into the minds of others. The monk-spies are trained to tap into the Mindstream itself, the collective flow of human consciousness, piercing the veil of separation between beings. The ''Gra So Pa are closely tied to the Dalai Lama, their thoughts and desired precisely attuned to his. Being so connected to the universe, there is little that surprises Tenzek; but when a half-dead Japanese pirate and Nepali gunslinger showed up at his home, he was taken slightly aback. He nursed Tetsuo Hideyoshi and Bishnu Rai back to health, and though they never fully volunteered their story, it was easy enough for him to infer. He nurtured the respect the two had gained in their life-and-death struggle with another, and by the time they had recovered, the two enemies had pledged themselves as blood brothers. Realizing that the pirate could be a valuable resource, and that Tenzek himself could serve as a contact point between the ''jianghu ''and the Dalai Lama, he aided Tetsuo in stealing a new airship and taking to the skies again, subtly guiding his actions along the way. Personality: He's very quiet, and very polite. But he observes much. Among the ''jianghu, ''he is less inclined to violence than his comrades, preferring to solve problems with stealth and subterfuge. He is cunning and manipulative, controlling others while letting them believe that they are controlling him. He training has given him a great deal of Insight, and he is usually able to get a deep understanding of others shortly upon meeting them. Though he has no regular contact with the Dalai Lama, he is so well mentally attuned to this master that he does not need to be. Appearance: Tenzek is wears the red and yellow robes of a Tibetan Buddhist, marking him as an outlander in China. He wears glasses which he does not strictly need in order to make his bearing less threatening. He is usually smiling politely, and comes across as quite disarming and harmless. Playstyle: Tenzek is a social and stealth character. Intense meditation has given him seemingly supernatural powers, allowing him to bridge the illusion that separates one mind from another. As such, he can read minds and shape the thoughts of others. In combat, he has received extensive training with the traditional weapon of the ''Gra So Pa, ''a set of iron prayer beads that can easily be wielded as a chain whip. Relationships: Tenzek is good at maintaining positive relationships, but has a somewhat strained relationship with his sister, Tashi whom he sees as a reckless and willful child whom he constantly needs to clean up after. His brother-in-law, Tetsuo, he finds similarly taxing. He is constantly saddened by Sanguine Clarity's cynicism, and feels that she has missed the heart of the teachings of the Buddha.